Various methods are known in the prior art for securing ends of filamentary material to a rotating storage reel or spool; however, no method is known for suitably gripping the tail end of a rapidly moving metal filament which travels at a rate often times at speeds in the order of 4000 to 6000 ft./min. and faster. With the manufacture of some types of filaments it is necessary to employ these high rates if the characteristics of the filament are to be retained. For example, the amorphous character of metal alloys such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,856,513 require exceedingly high quench rates, i.e. in the order of many hundreds of degrees per second, to avoid substantial crystallinity in the composition. To retain the amorphous or glassy composition, it is necessary that the spun filament be quenched and processed at extremely high spinning rates. It is thus apparent that a need exists for an apparatus which is capable of grasping the trailing or tail end of a filament after it has been wound on a reel to prevent the wound filament from breakage, loosening or unraveling from the reel package due to centrifugal or other forces or due to inherent spring characteristic of the filament.